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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30118746">Look Up From The Ground</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster'>AwokenMonster</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Marvel AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollywood Undead (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Everyone Returns, Five Years Later, M/M, Marvel's Avengers Endgame AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:29:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30118746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Darkness All Around (Avengers Infinity War AU) where wiping out half of the population also meant wiping out half of HU</p><p>Marvel's Avengers Endgame AU. The guys are back.</p><p>Rated M for character's death and minor alcohol/drug abuse or suicidal themes</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Channy, Danny/Charlie Scene, J-Dog/Johnny 3 Tears, Jay3T</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Marvel AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2216472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Look Up From The Ground</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Monster: Hi guys! This is the first thing I've written in a long time (wrote it yesterday) and I kinda got motivated to by seeing a new user post their stuff? I don't know. I always get motivated when new people arrive in the fandom. There won't be any Marvel AUs from me anymore. This was just a sequel to Darkness All Around to make it come full circle. I'm gonna try to write some more in the next few weeks but no promises. Enjoy.</p><p>It took me a while to write this because in the first few months after Endgame, I didn't want to spoil the film for anyone but after the hype, I kinda just lost my motivation to do it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Charlie looked out the window. He could see the stone walls rise from the ground like tombstones. He grasped the remote of the television a little more firmly, mustering all of his restraints not to throw it into the tv or window in frustration. He could vaguely hear voices in the background. Some news anchor talking about the events from five years ago.</p><p>Five. Fucking. Years. Ago.</p><p>When half of the world was dusted. When Charlie lost… everyone.</p><p>Charlie’s vision blurred but he blinked it away, looking up into the light to keep himself from feeling anything at all. He grabbed a bottle off the coffee table and chugged it back, catching a few pills. He’d gone over the limit again. It happened more often these days. His apartment was just too empty. He felt like it was a prison. He’d been to a few of those mourning groups to talk about life after… whatever happened but it was just too depressing.</p><p>
  <em>Because being here alone is an absolute party, isn’t it, Charlie?</em>
</p><p>Charlie squeezed his eyes shut until he could see stars behind his eyelids. For a while now, he’d been hearing that voice inside. Sarcastically commenting on everything he did or said or thought. It would’ve been fine if that voice didn’t sound like…</p><p>Charlie could feel his blood boil. He let go of the restraints and threw the remote so hard against the wall it shattered. He thought the satisfying scream of frustration would ease his mind, but it didn’t. He felt like trashing more stuff. As everyone kept telling him the days would slowly get better, he felt like screaming at them for it because although it had been five fucking years, it still felt like yesterday.</p><p>It still felt like he lost Danny yesterday.</p><p>Because that was what it was all about, right?</p><p>Charlie sunk to his knees. He’d lost his Danny. His beloved Danny. He’d lost his best friend, Funny Man. He’d lost J-Dog. He’d lost everyone close to him. Everyone who had been making his days worth living. <em>What about Johnny?</em></p><p>What about Johnny?</p><p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p>Yeah.</p><p>Charlie remembered the funeral. The mass funeral for millions of faceless graves. The day those walls were installed with the names of everyone they had lost. That was the last time he saw Johnny.</p><p>Johnny was possibly in an even worse state than Charlie. <em>Is that possible?</em> Yes. Johnny had been arguing with J-Dog when he lost him and all he’d been saying up until the funeral was how much he regretted that fight and how he’d give anything just to spend those final minutes in a better way. Charlie hadn’t seen him again, but he’d heard from him.</p><p>He’d heard he became an alcoholic and last time Charlie heard from Johnny’s ex-wife, she told him Johnny lost his house. Charlie would’ve let Johnny stay with him anytime. Would’ve taken him into the house in a single heartbeat but Johnny never told him, never spoke to him. By the time Charlie knew Johnny lost everything, they hadn’t heard from each other in three years already.</p><p>They say bad experiences tie you together but this? This ripped them wide open and separated them in ways they never anticipated. It’s hard to remain close when you both need a fuckton of space to deal with the loss. Charlie felt hollow thinking about Johnny and hoped Johnny was alright, fine somewhere and… sober. Charlie sat down on the floor to keep his legs from trembling, to keep himself from smashing more stuff. He smacked his head against the couch behind him and sighed.</p><p>Funny Man, J-Dog, Danny? Dead.</p><p>Johnny? Probably dead.</p><p>As Johnny and Charlie had been skimming the walls, looking for names they recognised, they’d both frozen dead in their tracks. <em>Matthew Busek</em>.</p><p>Da Kurlzz? Dead.</p><p>
  <em>Aron Erlichman</em>
</p><p>Deuce? Dead.</p><p>Weird how a massive fight fell into nothing when you found out someone was dead. Charlie bit down on his tongue so hard, he could taste blood. It had been five years, let it go. <em>Let it go.</em></p><p>It sounded like Danny. Did Charlie even remember what Danny sounded like anymore?</p><p><em>Let me go, Charlie</em>.</p><p>Charlie pulled his knees up and hid his face in his knees, arms wrapped around them tightly. He’d give everything away to hear that voice again.</p><p>There was a noise outside. It sounded like masses gathering. Almost like five years ago when they were all whispering, yelling and talking about the dust flying around. Charlie felt like he was suffocating. <em>What if it’s happening again? What if they take Johnny this time, too?</em></p><p>He’d almost hoped it would take him too, now.</p><p>The noise became louder, more insistent. Charlie finally got up to walk to his window and look. He could see…</p><p>He saw people appear.</p><p>Out of thin air.</p><p>Like they’d casually teleported there. Cars tried to avoid the people appearing, some people screamed and ran up to the people appearing. There was hugging, crying. Charlie felt the hairs on his skin raise. <em>Is it…?</em></p><p>He wiped his tears on the sleeve of his shirt and ran outside. He rushed downstairs the apartment building, people opening their doors to see what was going on. He ran out into the street to see more people appear. He skimmed them for faces he knew, but found none.</p><p>None of them were Danny. None of them were J-Dog, Funny Man. Or even Deuce or Matt. He took a deep breath.</p><p>
  <em>Where did they disappear?</em>
</p><p>He knew the place so well. He’d visited it so many times in the past five years, often went there just to clear his head. He couldn’t get there fast enough now. He would’ve taken the car if people hadn’t been blocking the roads with everything going on. He ran harder than he ever had before, lungs burning and legs nearly cramping. He hadn’t been outside in so long. He hadn’t been able to work a job, be a decent human, see anyone. He’d been such a closed off person, close to losing his apartment just like Johnny lost his property…</p><p>But all would be fine, if everyone returned. He reached the grass field of the festival they had been set to play at. Several confused people had appeared, looking around lost. Charlie cautiously neared the exact spot of their stage, knowing every detail of what the festival had looked like.</p><p>Charlie froze, breath taken away as soon as he saw him. On the floor, holding his head blinking confused. Charlie dove straight for him, knees scraping painfully over the grass but Charlie only cared about Danny. He wrapped his arms around Danny, so tightly, pouring all of the love he had for him into it. Danny gave a startled gasp but wrapped his arms around Charlie. “Oh Charlie…”</p><p>Charlie shivered and shook, couldn’t keep the tears in anymore but all was fine. As long as he had Danny. He felt like he was dreaming, like Danny would turn out to be fake. He had had this dream so many times before, the exact same way. He felt the deep dread sink into his gut. “Is it really you?” he sobbed in between.</p><p>Danny pushed Charlie away, lightly. “Yeah, it’s me. I… I turned to dust?”</p><p>“You did”, Charlie whispered. He caressed Danny’s cheek, pressed kisses to his lips and held him in his hands as if he was his most prized possession in the world. He wiped the hair out of Danny’s face. “I’ve had to miss you for five fucking years, Danny.”</p><p>“F-Five years? But I was only gone for a second?!”</p><p>“No, Danny, it has been five years”, Charlie gave a desperate chuckle, wiping the tears on his sleeve again. Though these were tears of joy if Danny was really back.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Charlie looked over his shoulder to find J-Dog and Funny Man standing there. Charlie got up, although a bit against his will, to hug them both before helping Danny up. J-Dog looked around. “Where’s Johnny? Did he…?”</p><p>“I don’t know where Johnny is”, Charlie muttered. “I… We… I haven’t seen him in five years, Jay.”</p><p>Danny put an arm around Charlie’s waist to offer some comfort. J-Dog blinked. “Is he alive?”</p><p>“I don’t know”, Charlie muttered. “Last time I heard about him was three years ago.”</p><p>“What was he like then?” Jay asked.</p><p>“He was homeless and an alcoholic”, Charlie whispered.</p><p>J-Dog cast his eyes down. “That can’t be right. Johnny has to be here. With us. Everything is supposed to go back to normal now.”</p><p>“It’s been five years”, Danny muttered. “A lot happens in five years of grief.”</p><p>“I’m gonna call him”, J-Dog decided. “If he’s fine, he’ll have his phone.”</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>“THEY ARE BACK”</p><p>Someone came running into the bar, out of breath but managed to yell it out. “They are all back.”</p><p>There was a shocking minute of silence between the people at the bar. Johnny lifted his head from the bar to look at him. He didn’t believe him.</p><p>People don’t just… Reappear.</p><p>But then again, people don’t just disappear either.</p><p>“It’s true! I’ve seen it!” the man resumed. “They’ve appeared where they disappeared five years ago. Come see.”</p><p>The bar was empty within seconds. Johnny stayed in his seat. If anything, this was a great opportunity to get himself a beer while the bartender wasn’t looking. Not like he could pay for any of it anyway. He’d already been looking for a way to sneak out without paying.</p><p>As if everyone would suddenly return.</p><p>They wouldn’t.</p><p>Johnny had spent the first days after the incident waiting. He’d been waiting for J-Dog to walk through the door of their house and greet him. He’d been waiting for a text from Charlie telling him everyone had returned.</p><p>He’d been waiting for it for weeks. Until the funeral. At the funeral he finally gave up the hope of their return. When he saw all those names written on the wall, all he could think about, was how judgement day came early.</p><p>Johnny could feel the sorrow deep inside his bones and took a swing from a bottle he stole just now. It numbed the sorrow. Just a little bit. He’d lost the ability to get drunk from regular beers after a while. He could drink way too much and not be wasted at all. It sucked. It sucked he was too pussy to kill himself.</p><p>
  <em>That’s harsh, isn’t it?</em>
</p><p>Yeah. But it was the truth. Johnny had wanted to end himself for a long time but he was scared. He was scared of what would happen. Scared of what would happen if Jay returned. It was such a dumb sparkle of hope, but it was still there after five years of suffering. Maybe Charlie felt the same way.</p><p>Johnny had no idea.</p><p>He hadn’t been talking to Charlie. He’d been meaning to talk to him every day but they both just needed their space and at some point, it just seemed like it had been too long to just… randomly call him up. Too much time had passed and when Johnny lost his house, it wasn’t like he could just turn up to Charlie’s house and ask to stay there. They’d grown apart and Johnny didn’t want to take advantage of a former close friendship like that.</p><p>He sighed, feeling the weight of the world in that one sigh.</p><p>His phone vibrated.</p><p>
  <em>How do you own a phone, but not a house?</em>
</p><p>Well fuck you, Johnny had his ways to get by. Such as a car… That he currently lived in. He sighed again and took out his phone, dropping it startled when it read “J-Dog”.</p><p>Damn, he must’ve drank too much if he were already hallucinating. Could he still get drunk on a regular beer after all?</p><p>Johnny picked up his phone from the ground, surprised it didn’t crack but J-Dog’s name was still up on there. He swiped to pick it up and put it to his ear. “H-hello?”</p><p>“Oh Johnny, you’re alive.”</p><p>Johnny’s breath hitched. “Jay?”</p><p>“Yes, Johnny. Can you come meet us where we disappeared? The grass field just outside the city?”</p><p>Johnny put his beer down.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>Johnny nodded, feeling dumb before he rubbed his face. “Is it you?”</p><p>“It’s me.”</p><p>“I don’t believe it”, Johnny muttered. “I’ve been waiting for this to happen for-…”</p><p>“Five years. I know. Charlie’s with us.”</p><p>“Us?”</p><p>“Everyone is back, Johnny.”</p><p>Johnny got up and walked out, going straight for the grass field. J-Dog was still on the phone because he felt like he would disappear if Johnny hung up. “You’re all there? I’m near.”</p><p>“We’re all here.”</p><p>Johnny could see the grass field come closer in the distance, could see J-Dog standing there with his phone to his ear. Johnny hung up in a second and ran for it, nearly tackling J-Dog to the ground as he caught him by surprise. He hugged him so hard, he couldn’t understand what J-Dog was trying to say.</p><p>“Hey”, Charlie greeted him. Johnny gave Charlie an apologetic smile that grew when he saw Funny Man and Danny, too. “You’re all here… Am I dreaming?”</p><p>“We’re not dreaming”, Charlie said, his worried frown mimicked Johnny’s expression. Both still felt as if this wasn’t true. “I can’t believe it either but suddenly people began to appear and well, so did these assholes.”</p><p>Johnny finally let go of J-Dog who had been tapping him on the back to release him. He gasped for air. “Dude, I get that you missed me but fuck, don’t kill me.”</p><p>“I’m sorry”, Johnny muttered. “And I’m sorry for the way you left. I never wanted our final moments to be spent arguing.”</p><p>“Arguing? You think I care about a dumb argument? I’m happy you’re alive, you dick. Charlie told me you’d been through a lot the past five years and he hadn’t heard from you in three years”, J-Dog sighed. “I thought you were dead.”</p><p>“I could’ve been”, Johnny admitted. “But I kept hoping you’d return and wanted to live to see that day.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you come to me?” Charlie asked. “You know you could always come to me.”</p><p>“It had been too long. I didn’t know how to come to you without taking advantage of a friendship we had. I didn’t know if we still had that.”</p><p>“Of course we do. We just dealt with this shit differently”, Charlie promised. “But I kept hoping you were alright somewhere.”</p><p>“I was getting by”, Johnny promised. “But I wasn’t going to get by much longer.”</p><p>J-Dog rubbed his back reassuringly. “We’re all back, Johnny. We’re gonna be fine, together.”</p><p>“Yeah”, Johnny smiled carefully. “I’m starting to believe we will be.”</p><p>And in that moment, it felt like the past five years fell into nothing. They had a long road ahead of them to return to normal – if there were a state of normal at this point – but all would be fine in time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please leave a comment, they're my fuel. I was actually planning on having Johnny be dead after 5 years but decided against it.</p><p>Title inspired by From The Ground by Hollywood Undead. The previous fic was Darkness All Around and this one is Look Up From The Ground which is a lyric that comes before "darkness all around" and is a dumb little nod of mine to Endgame's plot of having to go back in time to fix shit. So like, that's why this fic's title comes before the previous fic's title. I know it's dumb.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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